


Would I ask if I Wasn’t, Punk?

by angelbabe_cj



Series: Holiday Prompt Ficlets 2015 [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky has a lot of thoughts, Dancing, M/M, Nobody is good at parties, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 21:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6059460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelbabe_cj/pseuds/angelbabe_cj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve seeks out Bucky at the annual Stark NYE party, at which point Bucky takes over the narration and has a lot of internal monologue. </p><p>Also, a dance is proposed.</p><p>Holiday Prompts 2015:  "Wanna dance?" Steve/Bucky from Tina</p>
            </blockquote>





	Would I ask if I Wasn’t, Punk?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [captandor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/captandor/gifts).



> Originally this was all Steve POV, but the (originally much shorter) second half felt clunky so I switched it up. Only then Bucky wouldn't shut up and get to the point, so enjoy all his thinky thoughts and backstory!
> 
> Thank you so much to [Gelsey](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Gelsey/pseuds/Gelsey) for the beta. :D

Steve approached the surprisingly secluded corner where he’d spied Bucky slinking off to about twenty minutes after they had arrived at Tony’s New Year’s party. He was mostly okay with people now, but the sheer volume of them at this event had most of the Avengers who weren’t comfortable in mass social situations on edge. 

The recently returned Bruce had put in five minutes of appearance before sneaking back upstairs. Not that he was very stealthy about it. He’d basically hissed threats about Hulk making an appearance into Tony’s ear and walked straight out of the party. Most of the others had varying levels of comfort with other people, Bucky probably the least so. He was pretty good at not being noticed when he wanted to be, though, and he’d managed to find this corner.

Steve slid up next to him and dropped onto the couch, knowing he’d been seen far before he sat down. “Want a beer?” he asked, offering one of the bottles he’d brought with him to Bucky. 

“Sure,” Bucky said and took the bottle, twisting the cap off. “Thanks,” he said after taking a sip.

And then they sat there in silence. They didn’t really need to say anything to be comfortable in each other’s company. There had been a tense few months after Bucky had been recovered, while he was still at the low point of working through his memories and mental health problems that the silence had been oppressive, but they had worked past that point and once more they didn’t need words. Not all the time.

So there they sat, both silently observing the part of the party they could see, occasionally gesturing with a bottle or tilt of the head at one guest or another when they did something amusing or idiotic.

\--

Bucky, meanwhile, was extremely conscious of the heat of Steve’s body next to him. Not that it was particularly anything new - there had been times both in the war and before that they had had to huddle together for heat - but people knowing about their relationship was relatively recent. Their relationship itself was relatively recent compared to when they first knew each other. Even if, apparently, they’d both been harbouring feelings for each other for longer than everyone else in this building had been alive. 

He’d tried to tell Steve, once upon a time, well a couple of times, but he hadn’t wanted to make it too obvious, and Steve really hadn’t needed any more reasons to get in goddamn fights. So war had come, and he’d had to leave Steve behind. Of course the little shit had found a way to get out there anyway. And then he’d started saving Bucky’s ass instead of the other way around. Bucky had thought he couldn’t love him more than he already had, but by then there had been Agent Carter. And she actually saw Steve, maybe not quite like he did, but saw him well enough that Bucky was happy for them. Right up until the point he fell.

In the intervening years between then and now, there had been far too many things he didn’t want to dwell on which had initially prevented them from getting together. The denial of their own feelings had then caused even more delays to their happiness. Or at least the fact they were both oblivious to the fact the other one had romantic feelings. Seriously, it was a whole clusterfuck (great phrase, thanks for that one, Clint), only the actual fucking hadn’t come until later. He was just glad they’d made it to where they were.

He knew why they’d come to the New Year’s party; hell, he’d been happy to agree to it, but as ever these days actually being at a party was a bit more trying. So he’d made nice with people for a while, mostly sticking with Steve or one of the other members of the team as support. That was until he couldn’t deal with the press of people as the party filled even more, and he’d snuck off to a handy quiet area. Stark wasn’t so much of a prick that he didn’t plan for people who needed an escape. Or possibly that was his party planners, but Bucky knew Stark was both more observant and more considerate than a lot of people gave him credit for, so it could be either.

As much as Bucky had been enjoying observing the party quietly from a distance, and getting rid of the odd intrepid interloper into his territory with well placed glares, he was glad when Steve joined him. It wasn’t like they were permanently joined at the hip (or anything cruder, thank you, Natasha), but it was good to have the person who understood you best around. And, sure, now he finally had Steve again, he did appreciate literally having Steve next to him whenever it was possible, but that was secondary. He just plain enjoyed his company. 

There was also the minor point about his secondary plan for the evening. Possibly it was his primary. He wasn’t sure anymore, and these days Steve was the better strategic planner in that context. Give Bucky the battle planning and building schematics for infiltration, let Steve handle the talking to people outside the team and their assorted hangers on. Steve was definitely adapting faster on that front, whether it was the press or random members of the public, he seemed to have the upper hand on Bucky. 

This was one they’d talked about though, multiple times. And it wasn’t easy deciding when, or during some discussions if, to go public about their relationship. In the end it was Bucky holding them back. They’d both had their reservations, of course, between being publicly recognisable figures who wanted a level of privacy in their lives, taking their time just to be comfortable in their own relationship, and the rather immense point that it was damn tricky getting either of their heads around the fact that not only was it not illegal for them to be in a relationship, it was increasingly legal for them to marry in many countries. That was a hard one to get over. Not that they weren’t both incredibly pleased about the advances that had been made by all sorts of what he’d been told could be banded together as ‘marginalised and persecuted groups,’ but it had been a little hard to rub their upbringing out of the equation and be ready and willing to tell the world about their relationship. 

Hell, telling the team had been taken out of their hands in the end. Although they both maintained the were planning on telling them later that week at the team dinner, it was just that one of Clint’s jaunts through the ceilings had meant he caught them kissing in a little used storage room. They weren’t exactly fully clothed at the time either. At least his squawk of surprise had been as amusing as it was alarming. After that, it had been useless to hide it from the rest since there was no way they could buy Clint’s silence. The fact that Vision had apparently known as soon as they got together and had been keeping it quiet had been both surprising and gratifying.

Anyway, here they were, at a very, very public party, and Bucky was ready. He’d decided to say fuck it to his admittedly real fears of what people would think about the Winter Soldier dating Captain America and take Steve at his word that no matter the backlash, it wouldn’t stop his feelings. Actually he’d believed that part right away, Steve had always been a stubborn sonofabitch (no offence meant to his mother, she was a lovely woman), but it had taken a while for him to ready himself for the backlash, which he knew was going to come. 

Bucky still had bad days where many things were overwhelming for him and he could barely leave his room, but they were fewer and farther between. So he had waited to be in a good place, and the festive season had put him in that place. He’d had the inkling back when Stark first mentioned his annual party, but he hadn’t been sure until, well actually until Steve had wandered over with a couple of beers, but mostly he’d been sure when they’d finished getting ready and he’d seen how Steve looked. How much he loved him in that moment. And the fact that Wanda had immediately demanded pictures of the two of them together because they looked something in her native language that apparently didn’t quite translate but she had said ‘a wonderful couple’ was a good enough substitute. Natasha had agreed, and said several less clean things to him in Russian, which had made Steve blush because, as always, his smattering of words in a language would end up being exactly the ones you wouldn’t expect a nice boy to know because he was actually a little shit. 

At that thought Bucky smirked and slid to his feet. Steve, he’d noticed, had fixed his eyes on the people who had started dancing to the band instead of just talking while they played. The numbers were slowly increasing too, which meant it might take a few extra seconds before everyone realised what was going on.

“Wanna dance?” he asked, slipping into Steve’s line of vision and giving him his best cocky grin. He’d done this before, a long time ago, and Steve had just rolled his eyes and called him a jerk. He hadn’t thought he was serious, which was understandable but untrue. What he’d have given to have happy memories of tiny, gorgeous Steve dancing pressed up against him. At least this way he’d get ones of being pressed up against Steve surrounded by people who mostly wouldn’t object to the fact they were both men. He was fairly sure there were still one or two conservative idiots Stark would have to invite for political or business reasons. 

Steve wasn’t replying. Why wasn’t Steve replying? Had he suddenly changed his mind about letting the public know? Was this the wrong way to go about it?

Bucky looked closer. There was a faint wistfulness about his expression behind the surprise. Or was he just caught up in memories, perhaps? He knew about Steve’s plans with Peggy, of course he did, and how much it pained Steve that even a pale imitation of that was impossible thanks to her advancing age and increasing frailty. Sam had told him about the day they tried it, and how much it had affected Steve. Bucky didn’t want to ruin that for him.

“C’mon, Punk, don’t leave me all alone here,” Bucky teased. It was a pretty proven way of nudging Steve out of certain types of weird mood. It seemed to work this time too, because after a second shaking his head Steve smiled at him. He didn’t take his hand though.

“Are you sure?” Steve asked. “I mean, I was just thinking about the dances I’ve missed… we’ve missed…”

“And Peggy too, I know,” Bucky said, his smile softening from the slick grin he’d started with. And he did know that offering to dance with Steve would bring up memories of Peggy, but he knew they weren’t competing and never would be. Yes, Steve had loved her, but that was something he knew couldn’t continue, and he’d told Bucky he’d loved him for longer, even if they hadn’t acknowledged it until recently.

“Well, yes, but not really,” Steve said, shaking his head. He stood up and took Bucky’s hand, which made Bucky’s face stretch into a huge smile. But before they could move out to the main party and the dance floor Steve gripped his hand. “Are you sure?” he asked. “There’s probably a team party starting upstairs somewhere by now, we don’t have to… not in front of everyone.” He looked so unsure that Bucky almost wants to hit him. Or at least pinch him with his metal hand. He rolled his eyes instead.

“Would I ask if I wasn’t, Punk?” he asked, still grinning. “C’mon,” he said, squeezing Steve’s hand slightly and tugging on it.

Thankfully, Steve smiled in return, and Bucky laced their fingers together, leading them out to dance and show the world just how much he loved this amazing man.


End file.
